Agreed - the HD7850 IS better (and the 2 GB model is better than the 1 GB model, especially considering the abysmally-small spread between the two price-wise).

Newegg.com/Newegg.ca has nineteen HD7850 2 GB cards in stock (the PowerColor model at the bottom of the page when sorted in low-to-high price order is out of stock) - the *highest-priced* model is all of (US dollars) $229.95 (and is one of the few that require two 6-pin PCI-E power plugs; most require just one, despite the 256-bit memory bus and 2 GB GDDR5 RAM loadout and - in some cases - even with a factory/AIB overclock).

Agreed - the HD7850 IS better (and the 2 GB model is better than the 1 GB model, especially considering the abysmally-small spread between the two price-wise).

Newegg.com/Newegg.ca has nineteen HD7850 2 GB cards in stock (the PowerColor model at the bottom of the page when sorted in low-to-high price order is out of stock) - the *highest-priced* model is all of (US dollars) $229.95 (and is one of the few that require two 6-pin PCI-E power plugs; most require just one, despite the 256-bit memory bus and 2 GB GDDR5 RAM loadout and - in some cases - even with a factory/AIB overclock).

He's still over budget as it is with the 1GB version, unless he runs something higher than 1920x1200 or really high levels of antialiasing, the memory is not going to be a bottleneck. I've yet to run into one at 1680x1050.

When you are on a budget you go with the strictly necessary.

I'm also going to upgrade from a 5770 1GB, I could get the 7850 right now but maybe it'll be best to wait for the new 8000 series. Anyone know when those are expected to hit the market?

Q2, but take into account the equivalent card is going to be a further 2 months away. With the 7xxx series they launched the high-end in January, the low-end in February and the middle-end in March. On top of this the 1GB 7850 came even later.